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Once Upon a Time Review: Good Always Wins

Good may always win, but evil doesn't give up easily. We learned such a lesson in "Queen of Hearts," as the Once Upon a Time midseason finale pitted Cora against Emma. The latter won the battle, yet the war rages on.

In the fairy tale past, as many suspected, the realm that Cora was banished to was Wonderland... where she became the Queen of Hearts. Quite fitting for the woman who enjoys ripping them out.

Cora and Hook's relationship started long before the curse. It appeared Hook had never been averse to a little murder. He'd have happily killed Belle when he realized she was useless to his cause. Then he was off to rip out Cora's heart, to no avail. My question is, where does she keep that precious organ since she mentioned to Hook in this Once Upon a Time quote?

I'm the Queen of Hearts. Do you really think I'd be so careless as to keep my heart where everyone else does? | permalink

Cora's most heartfelt lesson to her daughter was that love is weakness. Is it any wonder that they are both so miserable?

In the fairy tale land of the present, it didn't take long for the group to find out that Aurora's heart was in Cora's clutches. I really thought she was going to crush it to dust, as I just don't see much use for Aurora and Mulan. Perhaps the quest to save Phillip will change my mind but I don't feel any connection to these two characters.

I kept waiting for someone to realize that the scroll was written in the magical ink. I actually yelled Finally! when Mary Margaret figured it out. Although every time they looked at the scroll, the first thing that came to my mind was that Rumplestiltskin had beautiful handwriting.

Back in Storybrooke, Regina was torn between her vow to Henry to do better and her fear of her mother. It didn't take much prodding from Gold to get her to turn back to the dark side. Henry had to beg quite a bit in comparison to get her to turn back.

But I'll admit I really did feel for Regina. She did the right thing but found out that often times the right thing can feel lousy because she watched Henry skip off with Emma, the woman he referred to as Mom. She looked truly heartbroken. And then Gold had to rub salt in the wound by commenting...

Congratulations. You just reunited mother and son. Maybe one day they'll even invite you to dinner. | permalink

Ouch! If we've learned one thing about Regina, it's that she lashes out when she's in pain.

Our heroes were all back together, but their happy scene may be short-ived with Regina licking her wounds and Cora and Hook sailing into town. If there's one thing we can be certain of, it's that life won't be boring in Storybrooke for the new year.